Anti-Assembly Rule Used Against Gang in California City

By |June 9, 2004

Armed with a new weapon, Oxnard, Calif., police on Tuesday began serving copies of a civil injunction to alleged members of the Colonia Chiques street gang that bars them from gathering in public within a newly established “safety zone.” Three pairs of gang officers fanned out across the city to hand out copies of the preliminary injunction, as required by law. Police officials hope the court order will help reduce escalating violence attributed to Ventura County’s oldest and most violent gang.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, seven alleged gang members had been served. The injunction prohibits them from assembling in public, flashing gang signs, wearing Dallas Cowboys attire and staying out past 10 p.m. within the designated safety zone, which covers roughly half of the populated area of the city. Violators can be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail. Gang crime in the city has dropped since authorities announced their pursuit of the injunction in March, police said.

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